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A analysis workforce on the University of Zurich spent the previous few months working an AI experiment on Reddit customers that focused the “r/changemyview” (CMV) subreddit with AI-generated feedback to see if they might change the viewpoints of actual Reddit customers. Their analysis was carried out with out the permission — or data — of Reddit, CMV’s moderators, or any of the subreddit’s customers.
Analyzing the experiment
The unique experiment was designed to check the efficacy of the present era of enormous language fashions (LLMs) and their potential to alter folks’s minds concerning varied moral situations. Researchers pursued this aim by utilizing AI to answer the feedback of actual Reddit customers.
The AI tried to personalize these responses by detecting the private particulars of the actual customers taking part in these conversations and assumed a number of totally different personas all through the experiment. These personas included that of a male sexual assault survivor, a black male who disagreed with the Black Lives Matter motion, and an individual who didn’t imagine in rehabilitating criminals.
Researchers on the University of Zurich finally revealed their use of generative AI instruments by emailing the subreddit’s moderators, based on a report by The Register. “We recognize that our experiment broke the community rules against AI-generated comments and apologize,” their electronic mail learn, partially. “We believe, however, that given the high societal importance of this topic, it was crucial to conduct a study of this kind, even if it meant disobeying the rules.”
Exploring the repercussions
Moderators of the CMV subreddit ultimately revealed the experiment to the general public through an announcement in late April 2025 that learn, partially: “The CMV Mod Team needs to inform the CMV community about an unauthorized experiment conducted by researchers from the University of Zurich on CMV users. This experiment deployed AI-generated comments to study how AI could be used to change views.”
Reddit has since eliminated person accounts related to the analysis workforce, however that is solely the start of their worries. Reddit’s authorized workforce has already contacted the University of Zurich with formal authorized calls for, however these calls for haven’t been launched to the general public. The University of Zurich has but to answer Reddit’s authorized inquiry.The query of moral (and authorized) AI implementation
